Putting an animal down is hard on children

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Okay I need to rant a little here. I’m so angry and frustrated right now. After spending hours and hours on the phone, talking with one veterinarian after another, I can understand now why the SPCA is chalk full of abandoned animals with no homes and no one to love them. It was NOT their owners fault for abandoning them. It was the Vet’s fault!

Our 4 year old tabby Edison “Eddie” for short is sick right now and possibly dying. For the past two days he’s been out of sorts. He’s been caterwauling, vomiting, drooling, not eating, he growls when we touch him, cries (yes real tears) and his tongue is hanging out. Something is WRONG!

Of course we immediately grabbed the phone book and began calling around to different animal hospitals and vets. We told them right off the bat we are a low income family (on a disability) and need to be able to make payments but that we are worried and just want our beloved family member looked after.

Out of 25 vets we called none of them – NONE OF THEM would accept payments of any kind nor did they have resources or knew of any vets that would, and I cannot even begin to tell you how absolutely disgusted I am right now. Our cat is most likely going to DIE because vets for profit will not help!

Vet bills reach a staggering million dollars for profit yearly from pet owners around the globe. And hey I understand nobody works for free. But we are talking about animals here. Helpless creatures filled with so much loyalty, love and acceptance. They cannot tell us when they are ill or something is wrong and as a pet owner – it baffles me why someone would go into the service of helping animals only to serve the rich!

My boys are so heart broken and so am I. Today we had to sign Edison over to the SPCA. It is the only way we can get him medical help or have him put down if he’s suffering too much, without waiting for him to die and then throwing him away like a piece of garbage. Many tears were cried here this afternoon as FD put our cat in the carrier to take him away. As a mom it’s hard to hold my boys who don’t understand why nobody would just help him and let us say goodbye or help him get better.

“I told him all my secrets mom. He’s my best friend.” JJ tells me through his tears. “I love him so much. I can’t be here when you take him away. Nobody loves him like I do…”

We rescued Eddie from being slaughtered at an animal shelter overrun with kittens right before Trace was born. In all honesty I didn’t want him. I already had Thomas, another cat and a baby coming. But JJ took one look at him and said we had to help him. Had to keep him, and so we brought him home.

If Edison does recover and that’s a big if because I believe he ate something bad for him and he’s been poisoned there is a chance we can get him back after paying for whatever the vet does. So there is some hope alive. I’m just angry at this entire situation. Thomas our other cat is so upset now he’s stopped eating and is wondering where his partner in crime has gone.

For right now we are just holding on to the hope Eddie makes a full recovery and we can again be reunited as a family.